How to Start a YouTube Channel and Cultivate Creativity (Plus, Sign Up for Our Professional Development Minicourse)

I’ve wanted to start a YouTube channel for years, but I’ve always had a reason not to.

I don’t know what to talk about.

I don’t know how to frame the video up.

None of my ideas are original.

I’m not creative enough.

I was always planning and never producing. When I solved one issue, another arose, and then an old one would come back to tell me why I couldn’t start one. And I didn’t. I sat on my goal for years because my plan was never solid enough.

Praxis participants are encouraged to work around this by creating something every month. No excuses. Here’s one example.

Here’s the thing: I was right, and I was wrong.

I was right that my plan was not solid enough.

I was wrong in thinking that it mattered.

See, paralysis by analysis has a cause, and it’s the idea that we necessarily need a well worked out plan before we can begin any entrepreneurial or creative pursuit.

It’s dangerous.

It’s self destructive.

It’s the reason you never get anything done and so never feel the satisfaction that only comes by creating something.

I want to offer a different approach. Create first. Creativity, plan, and direction will come after.

Consider this…

You don’t ride a bike without first learning on training wheels. You won’t a great novel without first having written something. And in my case, you won’t make great YouTube videos without first making videos.

This is because knowledge, creativity, structure, skill, and plan do not arise in a vacuum. They’re like muscles — they need to be stretched and exercised.

Create a new YouTube video every day for 30 days without fail and you’ll be better off on all of these fronts.

So how do we “exercise?”

An integral part of the Praxis program is the professional development 30 day challenges, and Praxis team members aren’t exempt. We help participants determine their goals, and then we challenge them to create something related to that goal every single day for a month.

If you want to write a book, write a blog post every day. If you want to be a podcaster, record a short segment every day. And if you’re like me, and want to build a YouTube channel, START A CHANNEL and record a new video every single day.

Something amazing will happen.

Give it a few days, maybe the entire month, but you’ll start to feel more creative. You’ll have more ideas. You’ll be more original. You’ll develop a more solid plan. You’ll start producing content worth interacting with. The very reasons you were putting off action will be solved by taking action.

So here’s a challenge. If you’ve been putting a creative pursuit off, stop now. Do it every day for 30 days.

And then tell us about it! We’ll feature your project on our blog.

In the meantime, if you want more personal and professional development strategies directly from the Praxis program, sign up for our minicourse! We’ll send you one email every day for a week.